


Only Time Will Tell

by whensheflies



Category: Lost
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-08
Updated: 2009-11-08
Packaged: 2018-03-25 23:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3828859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whensheflies/pseuds/whensheflies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex goes to the only person she trusts for some Special Protection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Time Will Tell

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted in 2009 on lj.

  
  
The first time Richard sees Alex, really _sees_ her, is a dewy morning long before any of the others were due to arise from sleep. He rarely slumbers and uses the early morning’s serenity for his leisure without the nuisance of Ben’s unfaltering blue gaze. This morning he studies a dossier on John Locke and wonders if Ben has any idea as to how special the newcomer is. Files for Jin and Sun Kwon and Sayid Jarrah lay unopened on his desk, forgotten in light of the information on Locke.

She comes without knocking, only the silent squeak of the rubber soles of her Chucks against Richard’s hardwood floor give her away. Allowing her the element of surprise, Richard remains with his back to the door, though he does close the folder he’s reading. He feels her presence almost as much as he hears her, invading his space like warm sunshine. If asked, he wouldn’t be able to explain in words the way he felt about certain people among their community. He assumed it was because of what he was, but it wasn’t that way with everyone. Ben, of course, Ethan, Juliet, and Alex, but only with Alex was there that permeating warmth. Maybe it was her innocence, she was still quite young after all, that made her feel different to him.

“Hey.” She announced herself, her voice ringing though the silence of his bungalow.

“Alex.” He turns and stands, greeting her with an old fashioned sort of regard, and greets her. Removing his reading glasses, he takes her in.

She bounces on the balls of her feet; nervousness, Richard notes, something she is usually free of in his presence. Her hands are stuffed in the pockets of dark denim jeans that leave nothing and everything to the imagination. A sliver of tanned stomach peeks out from underneath a dirty wife beater tank top and as Richard’s eyes slide upward, he notices one black bra strap hanging off her shoulder. Her dark hair falls as messily and gorgeous as any Grecian goddess, her lips, he notes with pained resignation, are moist and red, kiss swollen. Her bright blue eyes so like her adopted father’s stare at him earnestly. What happened to the youthful, barefoot sprite that used to tease Richard playfully with games of hide and seek? What happened to the girl Alex and when had she been replaced by this young woman oozing eroticism? Sighing inwardly, Richard acknowledges her after what feels like decades but really is merely seconds.

“Richard.” She responds, standing her ground and staring him down like a bandit and he the town sheriff.

“What can I do for you? And if you don’t mind me asking, why are you up so early? I’ve never seen you up and about at this hour.”

She shrugs and flits around the room, nervousness returns to her and Richard already knows what’s coming.

“Oh, Richard,” she sighs sarcastically, “Spying on me again? Daddy wouldn’t approve, you know.”

She slides his glasses out of his grasp and Richard can feel the burn on his skin where her fingertips grazed his. Twirling around him with a smile both mischievous and becoming, she picks up one of the files on his desk and then plops herself on the desktop, using his chair as a footstool. Pushing Richard’s glasses up the bridge of her nose, she opens the dossier and begins to peruse it.

It takes Richard only a moment to recover from her whirlwind behavior. He removes the file from her hands, noting dirt under her fingernails.

“So, is that the guy?” she shrugs her head in the direction of the file. He nudges her knee aside with the manila folder, opens a drawer and puts it away safely.

“John Locke. He was in a wheelchair—paralyzed—before he crashed on this island. Now he walks.” Richard summarizes.

“If only Daddy were _that_ special. I’m sure it’s eating him alive.” She looks up at him through his own glasses, her blue eyes magnified.

Richard’s lips quirk slightly upwards. His fondness for Alex’s sarcasm, so like Ben’s, gets the best of him. “I do not spy on you.” He says, reaching up and picking the glasses off her face. He puts them in his shirt pocket, reaches out and tucks a lock of Alex’s hair behind her ear. She blushes self-consciously.

“This John Locke…will he be our new leader?” she asks, with complete disregard for the original conversation.

Richard finds himself startled by Alex’s perceptiveness. Perhaps she grew up while his attentions were focused elsewhere. For a moment, Richard loses himself to an endless memory of the loss of innocence and the journey of life and death, something from which he is painfully exempt.

“It is too early to say. The Island has picked him out as special. Only time will tell.”

Alex smirked. “It’s okay, you know? Spying on me for Dad…lets me know he still cares.”

“Are you always this conversationally fragmented?”

“Ouch. Guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I’ll leave you to your top secret business, then.”

Alex’s sarcasm stings him. He had learned to overcome most human emotion, but this was so unexpected that it caught him off guard.

Richard grabs her elbow before she can run away in a blur of teenage angst. “Alex, wait. I apologize for saying that. It was rash and uncalled for.”

Alex rolls her eyes and grins. “Yeah, whatever. You’re so…different.”

Unable to ride on her rollercoaster of mood swings any longer, Richard confronts her. “What is it that you wanted before?”

Yanking herself from Richard's grip, Alex looks away from him. A slight blush creeps up her cheeks and it stirs Richard to the core. She shrugs lightheartedly, still unable to look at him. "It's stupid. It's nothing."

"Alex." he says, and it is almost a warning.

"I need protection." She blurts out, her fierce stare meeting his again.

Relief floods him and he speaks without truly thinking. "You are always safe if I'm around."

Alex does not speak, but her eyes, a mixture of amusement and mortification, give her away.

"That's not what you meant." Richard says, feeling uncharacteristically stupid.

Alex shrugs noncommittally.

Richard returns to his chair, running a hand over his face, weighing his options carefully. "Why not ask Juliet?"

"Trust me. I would have much preferred asking Juliet, but you know it would get back to dad. He hates Karl enough already...if he knew that Karl was deflowering his daughter...Richard, please."

Deflowering? Richard's anger flares lightning quick, a combination of fatherly protection and something more. Alex deserves something much more than that stupid boy. "Alex, I--" he begins.

"I can't get pregnant," she says bluntly, "You know what happens to pregnant women on this island."

"Your father would not approve of this. And frankly, I don't either." There. He'd said it. He only hopes that Alex doesn't read too far into his words.

Scoffing, Alex steps towards him. "You are not my father, Richard, so don't pretend to be. I know why you don't approve of this and don't act like I don't!"

"I don't mean to lecture you. But you're so young, Alex." He knows she shouldn't have said it the second the words leave his lips.

It is her turn to be angry. Her spitfire nature was something he admires in her when her emotional tirades aren't directed at him. She practically shakes with rage as she stares at him, the accusation in her eyes is unmistakable. Longing to reach out to her, Richard forces himself to sit still.

"Where do you come off? You are not my father. You don't get a say in what I can or cannot do! I'll sleep with Karl if I want to and you can't do anything about it." She takes a breath and calms herself. A smile hints at the corners of her mouth. "But if you don't help me, and I do end up pregnant, I'm going to tell my dad it was all your fault."

Richard cannot help but smile. She may not be blood related to Ben, but she was so much like him. Somehow, he didn't think she'd want to hear that. "You're wise beyond your years, Alex."

She beams. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

Rising out of his seat, Richard retrieves a key from his desk and holds it out to her. He tells her the location of the supplies she needs and drops the key in her open palm. She murmurs her thanks.

"You know, I am going to have to tell Ben, don't you?" he asks.

Rolling her eyes, Alex slumps her shoulders. "Yes." she moans, sounding every bit the petulant teenager. She closes her slender fingers around the key and turns to go.

"But I'll give you a head start. I wanted to go over the rest of those files before I see Ben and that could take--"

"--hours?" Alex asks over her shoulder, a lock of hair falling into her face.

He knows he is doomed. Suppressing a yearning he hadn't felt in centuries, he inclines his head and smirks. "Days." he says with a trace of humor.

Alex grins and it warms him like the sun. Suddenly, she is running at him and before he can think, her arms are around him and her lips smack against his cheek. "You're amazing, Richard." she says, and runs from his bungalow without looking back.

"Don't make me regret it." he says to her retreating form. He raises his hand to touch his face where Alex's lips had been mere seconds before and smiles to himself. It is wrong on so many levels, but Richard knows it is too late to fight against it. He is lost to her charms completely.

 _Damn Karl._ he thinks and then returns to the folders on his desk.

 

*


End file.
